


The Hunt and the Hidden

by DarkJediQueen



Series: The Guardians [4]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV), Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Crossover, Death, Genocide, M/M, Science Fantasy, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-26
Updated: 2018-05-26
Packaged: 2019-05-14 05:27:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14763488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkJediQueen/pseuds/DarkJediQueen
Summary: Spencer goes on his first mission with Morgan.





	The Hunt and the Hidden

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rivermoon1970](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rivermoon1970/gifts).



> **Year** : The Far Future
> 
>  **Spoilers** : Destiny: Through D2: Warmind, Criminal Minds: Up Through Season 13,
> 
>  **Notes** : Trying my hardest to make sure that it'll make sense, with time, for people who don't play Destiny but you can find more information at the [Destiny Wikia](http://destiny.wikia.com/wiki/Destiny_Wiki).
> 
>  **Warnings** : Graphic Depictions of Violence, Death, War, Genocide
> 
>  **Beta** : Grammarly

Spencer found that he liked to walk around in the predawn hours at the Tower. There was usually not a lot of people around, and he could just sit and look at the Traveler. There was a balcony that allowed Spencer to climb up to the top of the Tower and get the best view of everything. After wandering around the Tower reading, Spencer had found a Guardian who was cleaning things out of her quarters, and she gave Spencer a thermos. Spencer had filled it that morning with coffee and was enjoying sitting and watching the sun just cresting over the horizon.

"You know my GARCIA told me that your GARCIA has started to call you a mountain goat, but I didn't think that she was truthful," Morgan said from the balcony below where Spencer had climbed up.

Spencer laughed and drained the coffee in his cup before checking the thermos. There was only a little, but Spencer didn't want to drink it yet. He wanted to get going, and he could drink it much after getting down and do it while walking. Spencer tossed his thermos down, and Morgan caught it easily. Spencer climbed down next.

"You make that look easy."

"My sister and I crawled everywhere that we could get. When we were on the colony on Mercury. We went so many places that we got in trouble for."

"What were their names?" Morgan asked as he handed over the thermos.

Spencer opened it and drank from it.

"Moira and Uilliam. Father was named William, and he wanted my little brother named after him, but Mother refused so Uilliam was chosen. Mother studied ancient Earth writings and liked the name. I was named after a famous author. Moira's name is Greek, and it meant destiny. There were also the Fates, called Moirai.

"Uilliam is from the Teutonic language, and it means resolute defender. Spencer means steward."

"You know a lot about names."

"Just the ones that mean something to me."

"Where is your family, do you know?"

"No. There are not many Awoken here, and all of them have no relations with my family."

"How do you know?"

"I know my sister and my brother, and they would never leave where we ended up after the Collapse. I will need to go to them, but I am a little scared to do it now."

"Well, any of us would go with you," Morgan offered.

"I know and I will at some point but I feel like I am needed here."

"Well, we can leave at any time. I ate a breakfast burrito. Eggs, potatoes, vegetables, and cheese all wrapped in a shell. It's good and filling. You should try one."

"I saw someone else eating one before they left, walked through the area there until he got to the edge. His Ghost told him that she wasn't transmatting him until he was done, she was sick of seeing his greasy handprints all over the ship. It was quite funny."

"Yeah, that's probably Anderson. He's a lone wolf bounty hunter. He goes and gets the weird things that some of the traders pay well for. He's come across bigger things that need more than his help and will call in a Fireteam to take over." Morgan waved at the two ships that were waiting.

"I ate breakfast, hash browns made out of weird colored potatoes and some eggs and bacon. I really liked the bacon."

"Well, bacon we have a lot of. Pork's easy to keep in small areas. We have chickens of course."

"I did a lot of reading on the founding of the City. So where are we headed?"

"Cosmodrome. Vanguard is reporting that the Fallen are looting machines all over it. It's not random. They are looking for something, and the Vanguard want us to be the ones who find it."

"Let's go see what they are looking for!" Spencer said as the transmat flashed out at him. He drained the coffee before taking a seat in the pilot chair. He touched the console and looked for GARCIA. "I wanna try my hand at this."

"Sure, once we get away from the city. When it comes to taking off and landing, there is a rule that only Ghosts do that piloting."

Spencer watched the controls for the ship as GARCIA got them away from the Tower. Once control was relinquished to him, Spencer kept a close eye on everything and made sure that it was a perfect flight and a perfect drop off. There were controls in the ship that would return it to orbit just above where it was left, a small AI of sorts, close to an Exo but not really.

GARCIA dropped Spencer down in the same location that she had when they had come back for the warp drive. There were no Fallen in sight. Morgan appeared seconds later.

"You flew well. I don't like GARCIA flying either, but the Vanguard has rules. It's nice knowing though that if I'm injured, GARCIA can call the ship to come and get us."

"That is nice," Spencer said.

"I'm picking up heavy Fallen activity near the Forgotten Shore," Morgan's GARCIA said. "But that's miles from here. Guardians set up a vehicle grid here. We sync to that, we can summon ground transport from our ship. Let's go."

"Transport?" Spencer asked.

"Sparrows. I had GARCIA load up my old Sparrow for you. It's an S-10, and it's the most basic model. I've upgraded my own, but you can use this until you find one that you like."

"Thanks," Spencer said.

"Over here," Morgan said pointing to the left. Spencer looked and saw that a small group of Fallen were around where Morgan was indicating.

"So clear the area and summon the Sparrows?"

"Yes." Morgan checked his gun before he started forward. Spencer cleared the safety on his and followed behind Morgan. Spencer wondered if this was why Rossi put him on the team with Spencer, giving Morgan a chance to spread his wings. Spencer didn't care who he followed.

Spencer thought about the person they were going to be getting, the last person. If the truth of what Spencer read in the books held out the final Guardian would be a Hunter. Spencer wondered what kind of power he would develop. It was fun to expect another person, he didn't want to be the baby on the team for that long, and he hoped that it wasn't years before the next came along. Spencer knew that it had been years between JJ and Spencer being found.

There were two Dregs and a single Vandal that was in between Spencer and Morgan's point of where they needed to go. Morgan fired the first shot, going after the Vandal. Spencer fired at the Dreg that was closest. It drew the other one to engage him. Spencer emptied several bullets into the Dreg's head. As the other ran at him with its knife drawn, Spencer drew his own and used his gun to direct the other blade away from him and slashed at the Dreg's arm, causing it to move over to where Spencer could shove the knife up into the Dreg's head through the side of his neck. It screamed and died. Morgan turned around to look at him. Spencer wiped the blood on his hand on the grass that was growing out of the base of a rock outcropping.

"You know GARCIA showed us footage of you fighting but...it's a little more...lethal than a Warlock is."

"It's not my first time fighting, and I wasn't a Warlock then. I was a plain old human and then an Awoken."

"I can see that."

"Let's go get our Sparrows," Spencer said. He didn't like talking about fighting. He remembered the creatures that had attacked them on the ship before they found a place to call home.

Morgan thankfully said nothing and just waved Spencer forward. Spencer took the lead. There was a marker on his HUD where he was going, so it didn't really matter at all who was in the lead. There was a facility that had an overpass between two rooms in it. The quickest way to where they were going was through, but Spencer took his time. On the other side would be a good place for an ambush.

No enemies waited for them on the other side of the facility and for that Spencer was thankful for. Next, they were headed down into a ravine and then up the other side of it. On the other side, there was a path that wound around to the right, but there was a set of rocks that would be easier for Spencer to climb.

"I don't think so, Kid. We are walking all the way around. I wasn't made to be a goat. You just hold your horses and go the long way with me."

Spencer smiled despite the slight hostility in Morgan's voice. He sounded like Uilliam. It was a little bit of home that made Spencer happy but also made his heart ache. Spencer hoped that his brother and sister had not be overrun by those creatures. No one had known what they were when their ship had attacked. Spencer had nightmares about them for years afterward.

Cresting the top of the ravine, Spencer looked at what was around him. There was a huge downed jet in the field in front of him. It was in two pieces, and those pieces looked like they had just fallen into two parts like a knife went through him.

"This is the Mothyards. Home to desolation and the Fallen have had a hold on it for a while. We clean them out but more come back. It doesn't take long but as many as we can kill, we keep on doing it." Morgan pointed over toward the left and Spencer followed the direction. There was a building there.

There were no Fallen around, so Spencer took off at a sprint toward it. He could see Fallen running around in the area around the plane sections. Where the signal was coming from was a building that looked like a good stiff wind would knock it down.

Both GARCIAs floated over and spoke at the same time. "Here's the Sparrow link!"

Spencer stepped up and looked at it. Morgan's GARCIA scanned the grid machine.

"Encoding superposed states." GARCIA shivered in the air and then a few seconds later Spencer's GARCIA took over doing the scanning and manipulating the vehicle grid. "Entangling ket vectors and... we're linked. Alright, if you want to get your Sparrow, we can be in the Forgotten Shore in seconds."

"So let's see how you do on a Sparrow."

A machine appeared in front of Spencer as he exited the building. It looked like a motorcycle from old Earth except it was hovering in the air. Spencer slung his leg over it and settled onto it. He looked at Morgan with a grin on his face.

"We can take it slow at first, but unless you wanna get off and kill the Fallen, we will need to race through the areas so they can't shoot at us. A Sparrow will explode," Morgan said as he settled his legs on each side of the Sparrow and sat down.

Spencer listened to the lecture that Morgan gave him on how to work the Sparrow. It was easy, and Spencer was thankful for that. He was good enough with technology, he had to be to survive after the Collapse.

Morgan took off looping back toward Spencer, and that was when Spencer followed behind him. It didn't take but a few turns around in the area they were safe in for Spencer to feel like he could handle racing through the parts of the plane that blocked the area as well as the rocks, and the Fallen that were everywhere. Spencer rested his Sparrow atop a hill for a few seconds, taking in the lay of the land. He could see all of the Fallen as well as the items that were blocking him. Spencer barely paid attention as Morgan came to rest beside him.

"Loser buys drinks?" Spencer asked as he looked at Morgan out of the side of his eye.

"What?"

"Whoever gets to the Forgotten Shore first treats the other to drinks. I know you drink. I know you eat. I've not figured that part out yet, but I have seen it. So I figure that alcohol, or whatever it's called these days is a good stake."

"You are on, Pretty Boy." Morgan gunned his Sparrow and Spencer was just a second behind him.

Spencer stayed to the side, and he cut off, going over the wing of the one part of the plane. He looked down at the Dreg under him before looking back to pay attention to where he was going. There was a small almost canyon to the side that he needed to get to before Morgan. He didn't care about buying drinks, but he wanted that win. He let his brain take over, processing what he was seeing in front of him and letting it move his hands and turn the Sparrow the way that it needed to go. THere were patches of water ahead and things that he needed to miss, and it was like a dance.

Twists, turns, and even little cliffs tried to stop Spencer, but he emerged on the other side, following a river of sorts that opened up into what was probably once a harbor, before the water receded. There was a ship in front of him. Spencer settled on his feet as the Sparrow came to a stop. Morgan came up to him seconds later.

"If I were a more jaded man I would think that you are playing me."

"No, I just learned a long time ago to love going really fast on things. Uilliam liked to race speeder bikes. It was fun until Mom caught us. SO this is the Forgotten SHore? I can see why it's called that.

"The Fallen are using some sort of signal amplifiers," Morgan's GARCIA said as she appeared at Morgan's head.

Spencer felt the wind shift as his Ghost appeared as well.

"Let's see what they are transmitting," she said before the spokes that made up her body expanded. Two points popped up on Spencer's HUD.

"Drinks on me, Reid. I've got the closest amplifier, and since you are the better Sparrow racer, you get to go to the farthest one." Morgan gripped the handles on his bike, and his GARCIA disappeared. Spencer allowed him to leave before he darted forward, hoping that his GARCIA was smart enough to do whatever she did when she disappeared, so they didn't get separated. Morgan was going toward the furthest half of the ship, and Spencer looked at his HUD to see precisely where he needed to go.

The sound of fighting carried around the little valley that they were in. Spencer stopped on his Sparrow when he started to hear more than just the fight. He was hearing words and sounds. Morgan was close enough to pick up the signal without actually being at it yet.

"Reid?" GARCIA questioned as Spencer didn't move for a minute.

"Shhh!" Spencer hushed the Ghost and listened.

"Give me a second," Morgan's GARCIA said over the link between them. "Some kind of distorted signal. Not Fallen."

"Let's go check ours," Spencer's GARCIA said.

"Yeah." Spencer swallowed and looked at where he needed to go. He put the power in the Sparrow at full throttle and started for the building that was on top of the cliff. The transmission that Morgan's Ghost was picking up was fading, and Spencer wasn't sure, but he swore that it was familiar. There was something to it that he knew but he couldn't put his finger on it.

Spencer's tracker picked up red before he got to the top of the hill, so he coasted to a stop and got off of his Sparrow. He looked at it and wondered what was going to happen to it. Before he got a foot away from it, the Sparrow disappeared. Spencer smiled. The link that kept them close to their Guardians was good. Spencer raised up his gun to get ready to take on what was waiting for him over the hill.

Vandals and Dregs came out of the woodwork, and Spencer took care of them. Then as he was changing the magazine in his gun, he heard the fire of a different kind of weapon. Spencer looked up as he jammed the magazine home to see a Captain. Morgan was fighting off more Fallen down below. Spencer grabbed a shrapnel grenade and tossed it at the feet of the Captain before taking cover. Once it had blown, Spencer came around and started to fire at the Captain. The Captain's shield was taken down by the grenade, and it took little for Spencer to take the creature out.

The amplifier was close, but Spencer was having a little trouble finding it. The sound was almost echoing around him. The sound of running feet had Spencer turning, and Morgan ran around a corner and stopped when he saw that Spencer had his gun aimed at him.

"Woah, Pretty Boy, don't fire that."

"You should make a sound other than running. Dregs sound like that when they run and try and take me out." Spencer turned back around to find his amplifier. It was around a corner. Spencer's GARCIA appeared and started to scan the amplifier.

"It's the same exact transmission. They are linked to something." GARCIA paused for a second before scanning again. "It's something in Skywatch. Let's go check it out!"

"Where is Skywatch?" Spencer asked.

Morgan motioned back outside of the half fallen down building with his head, and Spencer followed him out. As soon as Spencer exited the building he saw it on the top of the hill. They had come in from underneath the hill, so Spencer hadn't even looked that way when they had got to the shore. It was the same building that had been visible from the Mothyards.

"Let's get back on the Sparrows and get up there. See what's going on."

The Sparrows appeared in front of them, and they both got on quickly. No more Fallen were in the area, so they were able to quickly cover the ground to get to the road that led up to Skywatch. The way into it was beaten up and broken. Spencer kept an eye on everything as they approached the facility.

"This is the Terrestrial Complex," Morgan said as he stopped his Sparrow. Spencer was just a second behind him on stopping, so he slowed to a stop to end up right beside him.

"It looks..." Spencer heard noises. "In use of sorts."

Just as Spencer stopped speaking a Dreg appeared. Morgan started to fire, and more Fallen came out of the woodwork so to speak.

Deeper into the facility they went, clearing Fallen as they came across them. Spencer made sure that none tried to sneak up on them. Massive concrete columns were giving them cover, and Spencer used those to make sure that he wasn't shot at as much. Morgan was very much in the faces of the enemies that they were fighting.

Morgan entered a room first, and Spencer backpedaled when he saw Morgan pulling a grenade that Spencer had not noticed on his belt. Morgan came running out of the room and ducked where Spencer was just as an explosion rocked them. Spencer felt his teeth rattling in his head from it. The sound of death came from the room. Spencer waited until Morgan moved to start forward. Looking into the room, Spencer saw lots of body parts from Fallen and ignored the blood. There was a room at the back, kind of under the stairs and Spencer moved to clear that room. He entered it when he felt something drop on him. Spencer dropped his gun as he fell, pulling his leg up to grab his knife. He rolled and what was on him rolled as well. He heard the cheer of a Dreg before he jerked his hand up and buried his knife into the gut of the Dreg.

Morgan appeared above him, and Spencer closed his eyes ad Morgan shot the Dreg in the back of the head. Spencer shoved the body off of him, grabbing Morgan's hand as the Titan held it out for him to take to get up.

"You okay?"

"Yes. THere was nothing on my tracker."

"Happens in places like this when they are still. Probably climbed up into the ceiling to escape the blast and then just waited. They know our tactics about clearing rooms. They use it against us, as you can see."

"Yeah," Spencer said. He reached down to pick up his gun, shoving his knife back as he did. Back to the stairs, they went and then up. There was just a large landing before they went up another flight of steps.

"The Fallen have tapped into something in the back of the room," Morgan's GARCIA said as they crested the steps.

Spencer heard something that sounded like charged electricity arcing off of something. He looked around, trying to see what was making the noise. His eyes were going back and forth across the room, and then he saw it. SOmething that was coming toward him that was almost shifted out of the spectrum of his eyes to be able to see.

"Stealth Vandal," Morgan called out and raised his gun to start firing.

Spencer followed suit and saw that it was three of them. Morgan fired until one dropped while Spencer took care of the second. The third jumped at Spencer, becoming fully visible along with his two swords. Their joint firepower took out the Vandal.

"What kind of tech is that?" Spencer asked, and he itched to drop down and pick over the body to find it. He really wanted something like that. He wondered why though no Guardian had tried to replicate it.

"You can look at the body later, we have a mission," Morgan said, and he reached down to pull Spencer up from the crouch that he had dropped into.

"Fine." Spencer followed Morgan into the next room. THere was a Captain as well as at least one more Stealth Vandal in that room. Spencer could hear the charge of the device that made them nearly invisible. The room was cleared in no time. The device was along the upper tier of the room, so Spencer ran up to it. He touched the screen but couldn't read it. He would have to see about learning the Fallen language.

GARCIA appeared and started to scan the machine. Spencer wasn't even sure which GARCIA it was. He waited for her to begin to speak.

"Access," GARCIA muttered before she disappeared a little only to reappear. "The Fallen are trying to access these machines."

"Something is fighting back though," the other GARCIA said from behind Spencer. It was still a little strange to have two of them talking and sharing information before speaking. Spencer thought about the fact that there were people who had hated it when he and Moira did that. Especially the finishing each other's sentences. THey really disliked it when Uilliam got into it, and it was all three of them talking in tandem.

"This is going to take some time to figure out," Spencer's GARCIA said as she turned to face him. The eye in the middle of her body expanded and then there was a screech.

Spencer turned around to see Fallen everywhere. Spencer readied his gun as Morgan ran into the fray.

Half an hour later, Spencer slumped down against the machine that both GARCIA's were still trying to hack. The Fallen were all dead, and Spencer was worn out.

"I've pulled out everything. Every single little thing they have managed to steal. This needs to go."

Spencer shoved himself up to his feet and stepped back as Morgan raised his gun. The core of the machine popped up, exposing a blue set of rings to them. The two GARCIA's flew over to Spencer and hide behind him as Morgan fired into the machine, stepping back as he did. Spencer looked to the side and covered his eyes as the device exploded.

"So what did they get?" Morgan asked GARCIA as he turned to face the three of them.

"Not much at all," GARCIA said as she floated over to her Guardian.

Spencer felt his own hovering just behind his head and to the side.

"The Fallen kept hitting an active firewall. I couldn't understand a lot, but it was from Old Earth, Russian at that."

"Rasputin," Spencer whispered.

GARCIA whipped around to face Spencer. Her eye was huge and staring at him. "Yes, how did you know?"

"I-" Spencer shook his head. He wasn't going to talk about that. That wasn't his knowledge to share. "I don't know."

"It's okay," Morgan said as he stepped closer to Spencer. "Memories are hard, we all know that."

"So the legends are true that a Warmind did survive the Collapse."

"Who was Rasputin?" Morgan asked.

"An AI built to defend Earth. He was considered dead after the Darkness attacked. It would appear that he survived. He's protecting something here in the Cosmodrome. We have to find a way to reach him," both GARCIA's said at the same time.

"Let's head back to the Tower we can talk to Rossi, and he can update the Vanguard."

Spencer nodded, lost in his past as he thought about those he had left behind on Mars after his education had been over. He had no clue what had Rasputin on Earth or if it was just a subcollection of his intelligence. Spencer realized that a lot of information was lost when the Collapse had happened and Spencer wasn't sure what he should share. His knowledge could harm or help and he would have to keep his mouth shut until he figured out which for each situation.

* * *

Spencer flopped onto his bed. He ached in ways that he never thought he would, not since his training. He needed to figure out a way to train again. He hadn't found a gym or anything like it inside of the Tower. He hadn't asked Morgan though. There was a conclave of GARCIA's happening in a room somewhere in their little wing of the Tower. Morgan had said that no one went into what GARCIA claimed as her room.

Reaching up to his chin, Spencer touched the cut that was there. He still had no clue where it had come from, probably when the Dreg had got the drop on him. He trailed his hand down his neck and stopped when he didn't feel anything on his neck. Spencer sat up as quick as he could and felt all around his neck. There was nothing there. He looked around. The room was pristine. There was a box in the corner where he had tossed his clothes before showering in the bathroom. He dashed over and started to fling the clothes everywhere.

It wasn't there. Spencer thought back to when he last remembered touching it. Right before he had gone out to find his spot to stare at the Traveler. No, he remembered touching it right before Morgan had interrupted him on his morning think. Spencer grabbed clean clothes from the dresser and threw them on. After that was his armor. He was ready to go in seconds, but it felt like it wasn't quick enough. It wasn't quite dark yet, but it was getting there. He had Morgan had been in the Cosmodrome for longer than he had thought but time passed different when in a fight.

Spencer rushed through the halls of the Tower, going for the hanger. He found the woman that he had seen the day before and had been introduced to. Amanda Holliday.

"Reid," Holliday said as she looked up at him.

"GARCIA is away dealing with something to do with the mission that the Vanguard has assigned to us. She wanted me to get in the ship and pick her up at the deck."

"I swear one day she's going to get mixed up which Guardian she is assigned to," Holliday said with a smile. She waved Spencer over to a corner. Spencer saw that there was a machine there. "She likes to do things until she doesn't have time and then you Guardians don't know your asses from holes in the ground. This control the system that keeps the ships from crashing into each other. It's fully automated. You just got to put in your information, and it'll call your ship here for you to get in. Once inside you can tell it where to go to get your spacey assed Ghost."

"Thanks." Spencer did as Holliday said and watched as the ships above moved forward and then his own ship appeared. He felt the transmat take him up and then he was inside of the ship. Spencer kept up the pretense of what he was doing and asked it to go to the upper deck. The ship paused there until he told it to leave.

Once he was far enough away from the Tower, Spencer was able to take over control of where he was flying. He kept an eye on the sky for enemies. He had to find what he had lost. Spencer raised a hand off of the stick and touched the hollow of his throat. He had pulled his necklace outside of his armor, and now he regretted it. It had felt wrong under his armor and had bothered him, but now it was gone, and he had to find it.

Spencer had his ship drop him in at the edge of the Terrestrial Complex that the necklace had to be in. He waited until the ship was out of sight in the sky before he went inside. He readied his gun because he was sure that the Fallen that had been killed had to have been replaced. They were hunting for something, and even with Spencer and Morgan cutting their access to one of the things that they wanted, they would be going back after other things.

Little attention was paid to the creatures that jumped out at him. He didn't think about what he was going and just let instinct take over. The stairs that led up were in front of him, and Spencer started to look around. THere was only the very weak lighting from the building to help Spencer look, and it had to be enough because Spencer didn't have a flashlight. He wasn't even sure that those things existed anymore. GARCIA provided light when it was needed.

There was nothing on the ground other than body parts and blood so Spencer moved further into the area, where the Dreg had landed on him. Spencer hated that the room was darker but with his necklace string being black it would be hard to find. He crouched down and found the Dreg's body and tossed it out of the room. As he turned back, something caught his eye. THere was a blue glow coming from the edge of the room. Spencer reached out and touched the wall near there. It was...different than the rest of the wall. It was like there had been something there and it had covered over and now was exposed. Spencer saw a blue light coming from the damaged area. He pushed on the area and it collapsed in and the blue light became a lot brighter. Spencer blinked to clear his eyes as he took in what was in front of him. The machine in front of him was pristine, no dust, nothing. LIke it was untouched by time but Spencer knew that it was impossible. It was a cryotank and those hadn't been used since the Traveler had made the Golden Age possible.

Spencer touched the tank in front of him, and it drew his eyes to what was on the sides. THere were two smaller tanks. Not big enough for a human to be in, not an adult human. He wondered if it was kids or animals of some kind. Spencer tried to rub the frost from the glass in front of him, but it was on the inside. While the glass was cold, it wasn't so severe that it hurt.

The sound of feet on the ground had Spencer turning with his gun in hand to look out past the room. THere was a hiss behind him, but he didn't pay it any mind. It had to be the machine either starting up its next cycle or ending it. The sounds of Fallen though was getting louder.

Spencer looked up the steps as he walked around them but no noise was coming from that way. He followed the sound to the way he had come in and saw a lot of Fallen. Spencer checked his gun and found that he had changed the mag recently even though he had no actual memory of that. A blast from a Vandal struck the wall beside Spencer, and it set off some rubble from the grenade earlier. Spencer heard a lot of it cascade down behind him, and he didn't pay it any attention.

There were so many Fallen rushing at him that Spencer just started to cover the area in bullets. He tried to kill as many as he could. He didn't even think about trying to radio for help. Somehow a Dreg got behind him and rushed him from the side. Spencer fell down and looked up at the Dreg that had a knife in hand. His gun was empty, and the Dreg was too close for him to be able to reload the gun before he was set upon. Spencer tried to reach down for his own knife, but the Dreg slashed at him. Spencer hissed as his armor didn't hold up to the knife. His shield had already been overwhelmed.

Spencer was staring at the Dreg when there was the sound of metal on metal, and then the Dreg made a noise. Spencer could see something swing across his sight, but it moved so fast he almost missed it. The body of the Dreg fell, and as it did, the head fell to the side, disconnected from the body. Spencer tipped his head up to see a man standing above him. The man didn't have armor like Spencer no it was mostly leather and fur, but he could see swatches of shiny metal under the leather and fur. In his hand was a sword.

The sound of growling filled Spencer's ears, and he watched as two blurs, one black and one white jumped over him. Spencer scrambled to his feet and moved out of the way of the man who was there and looked to see two huge wolves running at the Dregs that were trying to kill Spencer.

"Dobycha," the man said.

The wolves jumped and start to rip the Dregs apart, the Dregs were very much prey. Spencer watched as the man ran forward, killing with his sword. Spencer changed the mag on his gun quickly and started to carefully fire at the Vandals at the back of the area. When there was nothing left alive except for Spencer, the man, and the two wolves, Spencer relaxed.

The man turned around to face him, and the wolves came to rest at his sides with nothing said. Spencer swallowed and tried not to shake in fear. Just because the man had saved Spencer didn't mean that he was going to leave Spencer alive. He had read about the WArlords that had dropped up with the first people who had been gifted with the Ghosts. The armor the man was wearing seemed about right for that era of Guardian history. It was a slim chance that this man wasn't the one who had been in the cryotank. The other two tanks were about the right size for the two wolves.

Before Spencer could say a thing the man turned on his heel and walked back to the room had he had been inside of. Spencer hesitantly followed. Just inside the room, the man was crouched down. Spencer saw pieces of a GHost on the ground. Right with the Ghost was his necklace. The man picked up each part of the Ghost and clutched them to his chest. The man was a Guardian, and this had to be his Ghost.

The man stood up and transferred the parts of his Ghost to one hand before starting to pat his side. Spencer watched him pull out a pouch, and the Ghost was slipped inside. The rocks that Spencer was standing on shifted and the man reached for his sword that was leaning against the wall. Spencer raised his hands to show the man that he had nothing in them.

"Who are you?" the man asked.

"Spencer Reid," Spencer answered. He didn't even think of asking him what his name was. Spencer kept looking down at the necklace on the ground. Especially when the black wolf padded up to it and nosed at it, the wolf barked, and the man reached down to pick up the necklace. Spencer made a noise, and the man's head shot up.

"Is this yours?"

"Yes." Spencer nodded as he said the word. He wanted to reach out and grab it from the man but that sword was way too close, and the man was too good with it. The man turned around to look at the cryotank. Spencer realized that the man had on a cloak. "You are a Hunter!"

"I am. You look like you are a Warlock but the dress is...how long have I been asleep?"

"I don't know. I've...not been awake long myself."

"Where is your Ghost?"

"I left her in the Tower."

"You left her in the Tower? Do you know how stupid that is?" The man took a step toward Spencer but stopped when Spencer took a few steps back. The man looked at the necklace in his hand and held it out. Spencer stepped up to take it from him. The man latched out though and grabbed Spencer's wrist, drawing him close. Spencer tried to fight out of the man's grip but he stopped when he felt a hand under his chin. Spencer grabbed that hand and tried to pull it away from him. He heard his necklace drop and whimpered a little. The man cocked his head to the side, Spencer hated that he couldn't see the man's face because of the helmet that he was wearing. Spencer tried again with but the man moved and both of Spencer's hands were gripped tight in the man's hand. Spencer tugged but all he did was unbalance himself. The man turned them into a wall and shoved Spencer's hands up to where he had access to Spencer's entire body. Spencer tried to kick out but was stopped with a hip pressing into his groin.

"LET ME GO!" Spencer yelled. He felt his helmet latch open and then he was seeing with his naked eyes.

"What are you?" the man asked.

"What are you?" Spencer asked back. He jerked on his hands but instead of pushing, there was a flash of light, and the man stumbled back. Spencer saw that he had cracked the face shield part of the helmet. The man stepped back further and the two wolves popped between the two of them. Helmet crashed to the floor with a bang and Spencer was treated to his first look at the man. He was pale skinned and very human with black hair and a stern face.

Spencer knew that face. He had seen it in his dreams those first few weeks after becoming an Awoken.

"Were you alive before or after the Collapse?" Spencer asked.

"I was born after the Collapse, and I was revived even later."

"I was human. I was out in the stars when the Collapse happened, and myself and the people that I was with were changed. We call ourselves Awoken. Over the years many started to wander back to Earth. There are a good many of us in the ranks of Guardians."

"We are in the Skywatch, yes?" the man asked.

Spencer realized that while he had spoken Russian to the wolves, he had no Russian accent to his voice. Spencer wondered if he was hiding it or never had it and just used Russian to teach the wolves.

"Yes. This is the Skywatch."

"This is Helo and Luna. My name is Aaron Hotchner." Hotchner held out his hand, and Spencer was tentative in shaking it. When Hotchner released Spencer's hand, he held out the necklace. Spencer gripped it tight and cradled it to his chest for a few seconds before he worked on getting it on. He opened his armor and made sure that the necklace was safe before he looked at Hotchner.

"Do you want to come back to the City with me? To the Tower where the rest of the Guardians are?"

"I need to find my brothers and sisters if any remains."

"How many did you have?" Spencer asked.

"Not...my only true blood sibling died when I died the first time. No, my Guardian brothers and sisters. We were in the middle of a fight for our lives when I was trapped here by a voice."

"Trapped by a voice?" Spencer wondered what the man was talking about.

"It spoke to me, but I didn't understand him. It sounded like he was speaking Russian, but I don't understand but a few words of it."

Spencer kept the name to himself. Rasputin was to be protected, no matter what.

"And he-it let you out?"

"I guess. Or you did by just coming into the room? I don't know. I would like to go where the Guardians are."

"I just have my ship, but we will both fit inside. Along with your wolves."

"Just Helo is mine. Luna, she's...she's a stray that likes to follow me. She's lost her pack now." Hotchner looked very sad about that and Spencer understood. He really did understand. Spencer felt like he was packless as well.

"Is there anything else that you need?"

"No. My other weapons besides my sword were lost when I was overtaken. I tossed them as dead weight. You have just a single weapon besides your knives."

"I do, but I'm still...I was revived by Ghost just days ago. We are both strangers to this new world." Spencer gave Hotchner a smile and waved back the way that he had come. "SHip can't transmat us in here, so we need to go outside. I cleared all of the Fallen on my way in but I can't promise that some didn't pop back up after."

"I think that a good fight is just what might help clear my mind of the cobwebs of the device that I was in."

"It's called a cryotank, it's old Earth tech from before the Golden Age. The sunlight is slipping away, and I've not flown at night yet. We should get going."

The race out of the Skywatch isn't laced with a fight. It's just two men and two wolves running. Spencer's ship is there to pick him up when he hits the edge of the facility. It's interesting to figure out what button will bring Hotchner and the two wolves into the ship. The wolves lay down with a command, and Spencer smiles back at Hotchner as he takes them into the clouds.

Spencer wonders at what kind of words will be pushed his way when he comes back with a Guardian that he is sure is believed dead. There is a crowd of people in the middle of the deck in the open air section of the Tower. Spencer sees his team there in the center. All eyes turn to his ship as it stops just shy of the deck and transmats them all down before disappearing. Spencer had put his helmet back on, and so did Hotchner, even with the cracked face screen.

"Where were you?" Rossi asked.

"I had to go back for something I dropped. I didn't expect to be gone this long. I didn't think at all, and I'll take whatever yelling you want in private," Spencer said to Rossi.

"I'm just glad you are fine," GARCIA said as she floated over to him. Her eye darted to Hotchner. "Who are you?"

"A Guardian."

"Where is your Ghost?" Rossi asked. His eyes were darting all over Hotchner's body. Hotchner looked like a bygone of a long past era with his leather and fur.

"She's dead." Hotchner reached into the pocket that he had put Haley in and pulled her out. Her body was centered again like she was asleep.

There was the sound of singing and Spencer turned to look to see the other part o GARCIA, the unclaimed part come flying out of the area where their wing was. Spencer watched her dart forward to where she almost smacked Hotchner in the face.

"You made me wait long enough," GARCIA said.

"I'm sorry, Ma'am. I wasn't aware that I would have anyone waiting for me."

GARCIA dropped down and scanned Haley in Hotchner's hand. She made a sad sound. "I'm sorry that you lost her. She was a brave Ghost. She loved you."

"Yes, she did. What is your name?" Hotchner asked.

"GARCIA. I'm one of six. I'm sure that Reid will explain that when it's time but-"

THere was a sudden sound as if something had fallen. The whole of the people in the courtyard turned. Spencer followed the gaze to see a man standing at the entrance to the Traveler's Walk.

"Saladin!" Hotchner near yelled. He took off at a run. GARCIA barely caught Haley's body as it dropped from his hand, Spencer reached out and took the dead Ghost from GARCIA's hold. The crowd parted to allow the man to run to the man. Spencer watched him vault up the steps and then over the railing. Hotchner embraced the new man with enough force that Spencer felt his own body ache in sympathy but the man, Saladin just hugged him back as fierce.

"Where did you find him?" Rossi asked.

"The room that Morgan blew up with a grenade that I don't think he should have had. It cracked the wall. He was in an old Earth cryotank. Who is he?"

"Even before he ran to Lord Saladin I knew exactly what he was. He's an Iron Lord, which one I am unsure. There were many that died over the years or were lost. The only ones that I know for a fact are dead are the ones that stopped SIVA from spreading."

"Helo," Hotchner called out, and the wolf took off toward his master. Luna though stayed right by Spencer. Hotchner took off his helmet as Helo jumped up at his face to lick it. "Luna."

Spencer looked down at the wolf, but she didn't budge at all. Hotchner took his helmet off and looked at Luna before he looked at Spencer. Spencer looked down at Lunda again and saw that she was sitting right at Spencer's feet. Hotchner started to walk back toward Spencer with Helo and Saladin behind him. Hotchner crouched in front of the wolf and stared into her eyes for several minutes before he looked up at Spencer.

"I guess that she followed me around because it would lead her to you, Spencer," Hotchner said with a smile on his face. He reached out and pet the wolf only to have her lean into Spencer's body.

"We trained with the wolves, learned to live and fight in packs, it's the basis of what Guardians call Fireteams now," Saladin said. He reached out and clasped Hotchner's shoulder. "I think you'll like your new Fireteam, Hotch. They are brave and loyal. Keep an eye on the new one though, I think he's the kind of trouble that you like."

Hotchner laughed and shoved Saladin's hand off of his shoulder.

"I had hoped to see you again. You were MIA but never found a body or Haley, so I have kept your things. They are at home. I'm sure your Little Wolf will gladly take you."

"Little Wolf?" Spencer asked.

"I was the leader of the Iron Wolves before they were wiped out trying to control SIVA. I was going to find information in Russia when I disappeared. Well, Reid, do you mind taking me somewhere?"

"You don't want to just go? It's not like you can't borrow a ship."

Hotchner looked at Spencer and grinned.

* * *

Spencer hated the cold, and he hated the trail that Hotchner was making him walk even more. He didn't understand why they couldn't have taken the ship all the way to wherever they were going. They were in the mountain for fuck's sake, and it was covered in snow. The rest of the team was back at the tower, getting ready for a mission. Morgan was going with Rossi's squad for the day to help them with something. Spencer hadn't listened that close, thinking too much about the fact that he was going to be going to the Iron Lords home. Spencer had spent every single waking moment that he had learning about the Iron Lords.

The Iron Lords were like legends, and Spencer wasn't sure that he believed all that he read. It was hard to understand it all because so much of it was too fantastical but also there were words used that Spencer didn't know.

Hotch, as Hotchner liked to be called, had promised Spencer access to whatever he wanted when he went home to get his things.

"How does he know where he is going?" SPencer's GARCIA asked.

"It's so ingrained into him," Hotch's GARCIA said. She flitted back to where she was hovering close to Spencer. "All Iron Lords know this by heart and could traverse it in the dark."

"You sound like you have hero worship for him," Spencer said.

"Lord Hotchner was the second best known Iron Lord behind Saladin. I've spent a long time talking to Lord Saladin over the years. Just because the others were so worried about finding their Guardian didn't mean that I was. I knew I would find him when it was time and I knew that I would know him. The Light tells me."

Spencer looked at Hotch's GARCIA, and he was glad that she couldn't see his face. Of course, he was pleased that Hotch had given him his fur-lined cloak as well. Spencer was freezing while Hotch looked like he was in sunny weather.

The wind picked up, and it was only the ghostly glow off of the Ghosts in front of him that told Spencer where he needed to be going. As if the wind was a cover, when Spencer crested a hill and nearly ran into Hotch, he felt the wind die down, and he saw a large temple in front of him.

"Welcome to the Iron Temple, Spencer Reid. You are the first Iron Lord to come here in a long time. Saladin said that there is someone where that you might want to meet. Her name is Tyra Karn."

Spencer saw movement at the front of the temple, and he saw that it was an Awoken. The skin color told him that. He looked at Aaron.

"Tyra was one of the first Awoken to arrive on Earth Saladin said. I think that you will learn a lot from her."

Spencer looked at Hotch and saw that he was smiling. Hotch looked happy to be home, and Spencer was glad for him. He hoped this took him a few steps closer to getting home himself.

# The End

**Author's Note:**

> I write fanfiction for fun. It's a hobby and a stress relief. I refuse to stress over my writing. What you see is what you get. Errors, plot holes, and all. Thank you for reading my story!


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